


Welcome home, friend

by QueenEchidna



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Character Death, Extended life, Family, Fluff, Gen, Minecraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 21:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenEchidna/pseuds/QueenEchidna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"It's been 197 years since the Yogs have been whole, been a family."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome home, friend

**Author's Note:**

> Man I just keep writting sad Yogscast fics, don't ask me why.  
> [This has no relation to my other Yogsfic]  
> Hinted or implied pairings.  
> Hope you enjoy ^-^

Nano won’t admit, at the time being, that she is happy; happier than she has been for a long time, anyway. No more worries, no more troubles, and she certainly doesn’t have to worry about impressing anyone anymore!

But she’s alone, and she owes _them_ so much. She quite misses them and wishes they were with her. There is a remorseful and a self-loathing feeling that dances over her heart every day, because she knows that wishing something like that would be bringing untimely deaths upon her friends. So she never means her lonely, skin-deep wishes legitimately. 

_The afterlife is so lonely._ Nano often finds herself thinking, pulling her knees to her chest and burrowing against the ends of her red, and gold trimmed dress. And perhaps it is not as great as she originally thought, as she sits, and waits, and builds buildings she could never have built in life, and waits some more. Maybe playing with that TNT wasn’t a good idea. She laughs into the empty space around her; she should have listened to Zoeya’s warnings.

It actually isn’t that long before she finds herself with a companion, one she’s not entirely surprised to see here so soon in his young life. 

Lalna is, very angry, to say the least, when he arrives. And Nano welcomes him with open arms, she’s so happy that she’s not alone anymore, but the sad tears on her cheeks say otherwise: he is too young to be dead.

The scientist is overjoyed to see her though, not yet understanding that he is no longer alive, and neither is Nano, and after a lengthy re-cap of the last day he remembers, Nano learns that a nuclear reactor exploded, with him within working on the core. Lalna doesn’t want to believe it, and denies it with vigor, but eventually seems to come to terms and takes a sick joy out of building every contraption he’s ever wanted. He often invites Nano to test something with him, and for once, Nano is happy to help experiment. 

She is also happy to watch her friends, feel their life and endless love for one-another even past the testy bonds of death, and she is gracious to see they have never forgotten her, or Lalna; Honeydew has proven to be quite the sentimentalist, consistently bringing them both up, how much he misses them, how much he wishes he could change the past. _Don’t worry Simon,_ Nano will always whisper, _We’re safe here now._ And smiles. 

It is years, and years, and years before anyone else arrives, and Nano still cannot decide if she’s happy that there are more of her friends joining her or not. Regardless, Lalna is the first to jump to attention when the blinding light alerts both he and Nano to a new presence in their endless afterlife.

There are sad tears on Nano’s cheeks as Lalna runs over to Sips, _just_ Sips, and greets him with a firm handshake. The late boss of Sipsco is confused very noticeably, his pale eyes wide and scared; Nano can tell just by looking that something terrible happened. It’s a few minutes after Lalna’s inquiries and prodding that Sips shows any signs of consciousness when his knees seem to buckle and he falls to the side; Nano is over by his side instantly. He’s sobbing, hard, and his shoulders shake and body quakes and he keeps repeating a single word, a name, and neither Nano nor Lalna have to wonder for a second what he’s saying; they both know.

She cries harder, and so does Lalna, who tries his hardest not to, and to be strong for his friends.

For many more years, Nano can only watch, and try in vain to help Sips, get him to do anything more than sit in his 3-by-3 dirt hut, as he spirals down into a terrible depression; she’d be more worried about a possible suicide attempt, if he weren’t already dead. _Protected Sjin,_ Nano deducts with a melancholic ease, _Paid the ultimate price, but ultimately saved him so it seems._ She hates how she is becoming use to this.

Part of her wants nothing more than to open their shared window to the living, let him see his partner, his best friend, see just how much Sjin loved him, and how prosperous he was being in Sips’ name; but she can never bring herself to do it, it may only hurt him further. But she reminds him, every few years; reminds him how much he’s loved by them all, and especially by Sjin. She knows he can feel it too.

Zoeya, Rythian, and Teep all seem to come quick-fire, one after the other in the previously mentioned order, apparently the three’s expedition to the Nether had not gone as planned; and Nano refrains from shedding such familiarly sad tears when Teep starts sassing Rythian under his breath, blaming him for the whole thing.

By the time Lomadia arrives, Nano only has comforting words to give, crying seems trivial at this point; because while their living friends are not aging in appearance, a pleasant albeit deceitful benefit of Minecraftia, their bodies age by the day, and it’s only a matter of time. Proof of that very point comes one shockingly uneventful day when Nano is not paying very specific attention to the living; Ridge walks up to her, looking confused and tired, and tells her how much he’s missed her and the others, and how he figured it was _his time_ that morning; apparently he felt it. He is welcomed by everyone once they notice, and he remarks at the fact that they can still remember an old man; it has been over a hundred years since they’ve seen him, after all.

Lalna begins to talk to Nano more frequently, even though there never ceases to be something going on nowadays, he seems incapable of being distracted, similar to Nano for the past century or so. He talks to her about the rest of the Yogs, how he’s completely blown away at how many of them have managed to live this long, Xephos and Honeydew included, it’s like; how have those two of all people lived this long. They both laugh; its one last truly funny thing they can enjoy while they’re all separated.

Over time, another 50 years or so, many of them find their way into a peaceful afterlife, and join Nano and Lalna and the others, and everyone seems so happy to see them; Trott, Smiffy, and DJ (who all 3 came in succession), Toby and Littlewood (whose separation of about 5 years is met with a joyous reunion), Panda, and Dave, all partaking in the oh-so-normal afterlife. 

It’s been approximately 160 years since Sips died as the day comes with a blinding light that flashes before Nano’s vision, and within moments, 160 years has led up to this day as Sjin steps forward and immediately asks her for Sips. She smiles brightly and motions to the dirt hut not far away. _You should hurry, he’s been waiting so long for you._

For the first time in who even knows how long, Nano lets a few stray tears fall from her eyes when Sips smiles, 160 years without a glimmer of happiness, and he has finally ascertained the one being in the universe who could remedy that. He yells, asking why the hell Sjin died, then cries, saying he does not care and he’s so glad to see him; he repeats a very muffled _IloveyouIloveyou_ over and over, to an extent Sjin sits him down and holds him. The bearded architect smiles solemnly up at Nano and Lalna, his eyes still the rich brown they were the last time Nano saw him 180 years ago. 

And with that, it almost seems like things are normal, well, as normal as the Yogs can get, and Nano is content with that; though a few particular absences bother her.

And maybe it’s selfish, maybe it’s the worst thing she’s ever thought, but she wishes worthy deaths upon her remaining friends; only able to imagine how alone they must feel. Nano probably understands how they feel better than anyone; she wants to see them again.

Her prayers, no matter how perverse, are partially answered in the coming years- 5 years after Sjin’s arrival, there is that old familiar light, and Sjin looks immensely confused; he’s never seen it before, Nano reminds herself. They all find themselves at a standstill, waiting, as the lights die down and Xephos is standing there. Still clutched in his hand is the diamond sword that, Nano is pretty sure, he’s had for his entire life, a life which has ended now; and Honeydew is nowhere in sight.

 _No, no what about Honeydew? Oh god I’ve left him!_ Lalna runs over and does his best to calm Xephos down, Nano silently pleading for her friend to calm down and enjoy the company of his long-lost friends. She looks back, and notices a knowing look on Sips’ face; of course he would understand, he lived through it. Well…not _lived._

Time moves slowly from then on out, and everyone pitches in, showing Xephos the immaculate buildings they’ve constructed, how many games they’ve created, machines Lalna’s built; they even have an entire re-model of the Yoglabs headquarters, however that doesn’t seem to help the spaceman whatsoever. 

Surrounded by friends, but Xephos still does not smile, still won’t feel the happiness and peace they radiate; alone even though he's surrounded by friends, now _that’s_ something Nano cannot quite wrap her head around. 

12 years later.  
12 years of Xephos experiencing the same, near catatonic state that Sips had.  
12 years that could have gone smoother, as Nano eagerly awaits their final friend to arrive. 

And in that 12th year, 197 years since Nano first left her friends in the plain of the living, 197 years since the Yogs were whole; they are whole again when a blinding light, the _final_ light, illuminates the afterlife, possibly brighter than any of the ones before it.

 _“Oi, you there!”_ It seems the brash, heavily accented voice breaks a 197 year silence, a peace that is distorted as the stocky dwarf, still adorned in bulky leather armor and a strikingly familiar bright orange hair, marches over to a shell-shocked Xephos and jabs a calloused finger at the Spaceman’s chest. _“You left me you arrogant sod! Gone off to have a 12 year kip while I was stuck workin’! Where the bloody hell were you and Duncan to build that shit for me?”_

Xephos laughed out loud, his hands wiping at his watery eyes. Nano laughs too, recognizing the strangely legitimate inflection to the dwarf’s voice, even when Xephos pulls him into a tight hug, he still looks perturbed, but Honeydew grins and grabs his friend around the waist, murmuring _I’ve missed you_ under his breathe. 

Lalna steps next toNano, resting a tender hand on her shoulder, a strangely warm smile decorating his features. _I guess we’re together again. It’s about bloody time._ She hears Lalna admit quietly, and she only nods.

 _Yes_ , she agrees, _Welcome home, friend._


End file.
